ECA policy shaping process - the relation to (policy) work done by other movements, networks etc.
Ruby van der Wekken
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Hi,
Regarding the Policy proposals making process, comments have come up in response to our recent media work, which I think are important to reflect upon as ECA process.
There are a lot of (grassroot) movements which are working on different thematical commons issues as food (the food souvereignty movements), land etc. and who have already for some time been engaged in policy making processes also on european level. How can we as ECA and our lenses of the Commons create a fruitfull relation also to those processes? How can convergence and synergies be promoted, and not create perceptions that are not joining forces in the battles being fought but doing something seperate.
This is a recognition present in one of the working areas of the ECA, on the convergence of the Solidarity economy & Commons strands, but how to address this more concretely?
Jose Luis Vivero Pol Wed 15 Feb 2017 9:09AM
Dear all,
regarding food, I support the idea of aligning our claims with those of the Food Sovereignty, Family Farming and Community Supported Agriculture, because we all are in the same boat against corporate-led industrial agriculture.
It could be nice to have some meetings with them, firstly to eliminate the mistrust, and secondly to build stronger movements (more people, better arguments, and more options).
Count on me!
Best
Jose Luis
Nicole Leonard · Fri 10 Feb 2017 8:56AM
Thanks Ruby, this is a great point that was on my mind on Wednesday too. It definitely deserves more reflection.
I think that the fact that the policy proposals are linking to these different struggles from an explicitly commons perspective is a good first step. Maybe we need to re-tool the messaging so that the ECA is seen as promoting and highlighting these pre-existing struggles.
@sophie40 and I were reflecting once a month or two ago on the proposals and recognized that they were in many cases more like "position papers" rather than targeted policy memos. This idea of the ECA taking general positions on issues could be a could starting point for this discussion - i.e. we agree to support Social and Solidarity Economy as part of the commons but we defer to the activists already involved in those struggles to generate the content and progress the policy debate. Of course, this might take us into some tricky procedural questions on how we can legitimately adopt positions (related to the governance issue).
Curious to hear what others think.